Christmas Meeting at Susan's

 What  Fun we have when we get together.  Susan even invited Frosty to join us.  Her  home was decorated so nicely for the occasion. Her home as usual was a warm  place to gather for our Christmas Meeting.
We shared White elephant gifts and everyone really liked their gifts. Robin  and Susan pictured here.
     
 Merry Christmas 2011 Everyone!
(Sorry my camera was a bit off and these are the only pictures I can share)

Thanksgiving blessings

Once again, I feel blessed to be a part of this group of ladies, who not only look out for one another, but have such big, generous hearts. That being said, we were able to raise enough money to help put together another annual Thanksgiving dinner for our local Food Bank. As you can see, Faith has outdone herself on making it all look scrumptous in these lovely baskets.

We were able to get everything a family could put together for their dinner along with a few extra touches to hopefully make it even a little more special.

With times as they are, we can still make a huge difference when it can be shared among friends.

Thanks to all who helped participate in making this happen, and may you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

with blessings,

Gail

Cowgirls do have "farmgirl fun"

We sure know how to have fun. Farmgirls Mary Gail and April hosted a delicious Cowgirl Brunch Sunday . We laughed and Oh My! We all ate so much. As usual we gather as a large group and 11 of  our 16 were present. Thanks Gals! It was a huge success and enjoyed by everyone. We are sorry a few were unable to attend.   Our next regular meeting will be next Sunday @2:00 the 13th of November at Elmer's Restaurant.
Cheryl Mother Hen

A Fun Farmgirls Gathering

Gail  invited us all out to her house for a relaxing evening under the stars.. We enjoyed  a warm campfire and delicious meal of   delicious  soup and stuffed pumpkin. The recipes were from this months issue Mary Janes Farm Magazine. We love these get togethers and have many planned and inpromptu gatherings.

Gail had been busy. Her  new gazebo was decorated in great fall fashion and  the firepit warmed our spirits.

Thanks Gail.. You and Faith were gracious hostesses!

Mother hen

Lesson on earning badges

Today Gail and Cheryl showed a few girls how they could apply for and earn their MaryJane merit badges. Surprisingly enough, the girls already have several they can apply for. Once we started going over some of the requirements, many had already accomplished them. Now all they have to do is go onto the MJ forum and apply.

It was a lot of fun to sit and go over the many badges we could earn and spirits were lifted to want to complete more. They were shown how to trace their earned badges and how they could decorate them to place onto a bag, jacket or whatever their choosing. Some already know how to embroider and others will be shown at our next meeting by Robin.

Fall is here

With Fall in the air it was time to pull up our farmgirl garden.

Susan had graciously lent her yard for whatever us farmgirls wanted to plant. So with many seeds and starters later, we were able to fill all the beds with loads of goodies for everyone.

Although a lot of our tomatoes did not get a chance to ripen, we did manage to find ways to use them up.




Once we picked all we could from the garden beds, we set out to can up a few jars of Green Tomato Salsa Verde. So Susan showed a few of us how to go about it.

We each had our hands full of slicing and dicing and adding all kinds of things to the pot. It smelled wonderful.

Once it was cooked down to just the right texture, it was placed into canning jars and water bathed.

After putting up several jars and cleaning up, we saw that we still had several more buckets of green tomatoes, peppers and squash. All we could do was tell all the girls to come and get them. We were done canning for now.

This is just another way us farmgirls are getting ready to settle in for the Winter by putting up some of the hard work we did all Summer.

Rootstalk and MaryJane Butters

Five of our group were able to go to the Rootstalk festival in Salem, Or. this past week. Here we learned from many different herbalist on plants we can use in the wild, how to create tinctures, poultices, and so much more.

We all got together and went to listen to our leader of all farmgirls, MaryJane Butters and we all got to chat with her before everyone else showed up and she signed a couple of the girl's books where we got this picture of us by the amphitheatre next to her, she then  spoke on 'Living an Organic Lifestyle'.

We hope to share with everyone the things we learned and how we can all work together as farmgirls do.

Donations For Local Charities

With the craft fair and yard sales we have held, with what we earned and a matched donation from one of our member's employer, we had a total of $1,018. We were able to support both the 'Marta's House Paws Program', and our local 'Green Thumbs Community Garden'.

Thanks to all who participated in the hard work of putting everything together to making this happen.  And a big thank you to our friends and neighbors of our community, who stopped by our booth and yard sales and purchased items from us. Without you none of this would have been possible.

We are now hoping to gather what will be much needed items for the 'Turtle Cove' apartment  room we will be adopting and putting together in October. These will be used as transitional housing for those in need through Marta's House. Many things such as a bed, couch, kitchen essentials, blankets, all the things one would need when starting over. With continued support from our members and our community, we can help a family in so many ways.

Victorian Tea Party



MaryGail and April

MaryGail and April have once again delighted us with a Victorian style tea party. The kind that some girls dream of. Where you can dress the part of a Victorian lady and imagine how one would have dressed the table with their best linens, their finest china and polished silver ware.


This is exactly what we got to enjoy.

When these ladies put on a spread, you can't help but delight in the varity of food they so graciously served us with. They made sweet bread, walnut pie, apricot scones. There were tea sandwiches of cucumber and chicken, there was shrimp, creamcheese stuffed peppers, spiced walnuts and hot tea and their homemade Victorian cold tea to drink.

MaryGail's fine china tea cups

 We played games where we actually learned a few things about tea with prizes going to those with the most knowledge on tea etiquette. We talked, laughed and truly enjoyed each others company.



Julie, Faith, and Gail

April, Faith and Julie

Thank you ladies for a delightful afternoon of tea.

A Good Cause

Today a few of the Charming Chicks met with the administator of Marta's House and presented them with a check for $306. This was money that we earned by having a food and craft sale at the Gifts, Crafts and More bazaar that we held at the fairgrounds on April 23.

The money will go towards the completion of their PAWS program. We were then given a tour of the home and learned how we can help them continue doing what they do for battered women in our community.

Thanks to all who attended the bazaar and donated the items to help make this all possible. We hope to be able to continue to help this program as well as others in our community.

Happy Easter

Today we are all enjoying family and celebrating Easter. Some celebrate with the tradition of going to church first, then at home the children hunt for Easter eggs, then everyone sits down to a nice dinner prepared by mom or grandma, then off to watch a ballgame on television or visiting among each other. At least this is what I recall doing as a child.

After my kids were grown and I had grandchildren, I would sneak over to their home and secretly hide Easter eggs all about their yard long before they woke. Then I would leave a basket of goodies on their doorstep for when they woke up it would be the first thing they would find. Oh how I miss the looks on the little one's faces.

Well, with the grandchildren grown and with these wonderful women I am involved with, we, as a group, took on a different kind of celebration. Julie Morrill put on a 'Gifts, Crafts and More Fair' at our local fairgrounds yesterday, and we were given a table where we sold many wonderful food gifts and some handmade aprons, toys and homemade health products. All of this was done for the wonderful gift of giving.

We all had decided that we could help our local Women's Shelter earn some money they could use to build a much needed area for their pets called the 'Paws Program'. Many women will not leave their abusive husbands or significant others if they have pets and fear retaliation against the animal. Therefore building this animal shelter for their pets will help these women get out of the situations they are in and not have to worry about their beloved pets.

With the sale of cookies, cupcakes, breads and many other goodies, we were able to raise a total of $308.50 for this program. Now this is something to celebrate! Thank you Julie, for letting us set up a table at your craft fair and a huge thank you to all the ladies who donated the wonderful items that were sold. Robin will deliver a check, donated by the Klamath Falls Charming Chicks, to the Women's Shelter on Tuesday.

This event was a success for us as well as for our local community. This goes without saying, what we are able to accomplish as a group, where we may not have been able to do individually, is what I call being a true farmgirl.

Have  a blessed day,
farmgirl #486

Soon it will be time for Spring Planting

Margie Brick gave a fabulous presentation on planning and planting your garden. Everyone present received a whole lot of useful information. Thank you Margie. Some of the  chicks brought saved seeds and we exchanged them.  We are fortunate to have  quite a wealth of information floating from chick to chick through seed catalogs, books and first hand experience. We should all have  beautiful  and happy gardens of vegetables this  year. This is good and as we share  heirloom and organic seeds and plants our food sources will be better for our health. Any  gardening questions Margie is the one to contact! Happy Planting!
Cheryl  (Mother  Hen)